Call for Papers: Special Issue on Reproductive Justice & Queer and Trans Reproduction

Edited by
Caroline Hammer, University of Graz (caroline.hammer@uni-graz.at)
Elif Gül, University of Vienna (elif.guel@univie.ac.at)
Doris Leibetseder, University of Basel

The conference “Reproductive Justice and the use of ART in the context of Queer and Trans Reproduction” was held in February 2024 as part of the Elisabeth List Fellowship. As a continuation, a special issue in the Open Gender Journal will be published.

Reproductive Justice (RJ) is a theoretical analytical concept, an anti-essentialist political framework for alliances and an activist movement. The origin of this movement is found in women of color’s reproductive health organizations in the US in the 1980s and 1990s. Workshops and events by and for feminist activists and theorists on RJ are still held internationally nowadays, and find more and more recognition in Europe. The theoretical framework of reproductive justice consists in the right to have or not to have a child “under the conditions of one’s own choosing including the type of obstetric care and the secure access to safe birth control and abortion”. Furthermore, RJ includes “the right to parent children in an environment of one’s own choosing – free from [any kind of] violence and under positive social, healthcare and ecological conditions” (Ross/Solinger 2017) and “the right to sexual self-determination” (Kyere 2021).

This special issue on RJ and queer and trans reproduction is highly relevant in times when threats to abortion are increasing (Hungary) and abortion has been abolished in some countries (Poland, USA); the LGBTIQ* community comes under threat (again) from (extreme) right wing parties claiming LGBTIQ* people are a menace to traditional family values; anti-gender campaigns are rising; Gender and Sexuality Studies are increasingly the go-to scapegoat and divisions between feminist and LGBTIQ* movements are widening. Hence, we would like to invite contributions to this special issue in the Open Gender Journal on topics relevant to these threats.

With the conceptual framework of RJ, it is easy to point out where intersectional inequalities and injustices in reproductive issues lie. Queer and trans people demand RJ in order to have the same opportunities for reproduction as heterosexual and cis people. However, for queer and trans reproduction it is crucial to also be aware that an oppressed group can exploit another discriminated group. As Loretta Ross says in her seminal text on reproductive justice as an anti-essentialist framework for a theory and practice from the margins: no one's human rights should violate anyone else’s human rights (Ross 2021 in Kitchen Politics).

Guiding questions:

Questions we ask are: How can RJ be used to support queer and trans people´s reproduction with the use of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) in Europe? Are there any best-practice examples of RJ within or outside of Europe? Can queer and trans people contribute to support other discriminated groups in their reproductive processes and how? What role do race, ethnicity, class, ability and religion play? What are the ethical challenges in ART processes for queer and trans people?

Focus:

  • Queer and Trans Reproduction
  • Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART)
  • Reproductive Justice & Feminist Science and Technology Studies
  • Reproductive Justice & Ethics
  • Intersectional Approaches in Reproduction
  • Queer and Trans Abortion
  • Birth Justice
  • Legal Frameworks and RJ
  • Critical Race Studies and ART
  • CRIP Studies and ART

About the special issue:

The special issue on Reproductive Justice & Queer and Trans Reproduction will be published in the Open Gender Journal, a diamond open access journal. Articles will be published under a CC BY 4.0 license, with no charges for authors. We are looking for high-quality research articles including theoretical approaches from various disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, including feminist Technoscience, Sociology, Cultural- and Social Anthropology, Queer and Trans Studies, Gender Studies, (medical) Ethics, medical sciences or other related fields.

All contributions undergo a double-anonymous peer review. Please note that we will only include submitted articles in the peer review process if they meet the formal requirements for a scientific article (e.g. working on a research question, consideration of the state of research, transparent use of methods, concepts and terms).

Deadline: submission of full articles until 15th November 2024
Language: English and German
Length of peer reviewed papers: max. 50 000 characters with spaces

Please submit your manuscript directly via the journal’s website: https://opengenderjournal.de/about/submissions
We invite all authors to refer to our style guide to ensure consistency and clarity in your writing: https://opengenderjournal.de/styleguide
For questions regarding the special issue, please contact Caroline Hammer or Elif Gül (see corresponding mail addresses above).

References:

Kyere, Anthea (2021): An introduction to reproductive Justice. https://www.gwi-boell.de/en/2021/03/15/an-introduction-to-reproductive-justice (09.10.24)

Ross, Loretta J./Solinger, Rickie (2017): Reproductive Justice: An Introduction. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.

Ross, Loretta J. (2021): Mehr als Selbstbestimmung-Kämpfe für reproduktive Gerechtigkeit: Mit einem Grundlagentext von Loretta J. Ross. edition assemblage.